- 1909, K's family moved to Chennai, India. At age of 14, the exact point of transition between childhood magic and adult judgment, K was found on the beach at the Bay of Bengal, by Charles Webster Leadbeater (CWL), a larger than life and long-standing leader of the TS at the time. In CWL's eyes, the child appeared to be surrounded by an etheric subtance of gorgeous luminescence, the size and purity of which he was profoundly struck. K was described also as scrawny and undernourished, who seemed hardly aware of his companion's excitement, but turned away in a daydream, his mouth hanging open in a moronic expression.
During the course of the next few weeks CWL invited K and his brother Nitya (Nityananda) for regular interviews – awkward, one-sided affairs, as the boys stood tongue-tied in front of the formidable Englishman, understanding little of what he said.
K early came to depend on Nitya, three years his junior, who seemed to possess everything that K lacked – intelligenct, alert, full of humour, Nitya impressed and charmed his teachers, thus throwing his older brother's deficiencies into even stronger relief.
K and CWL
WOA